The Stuff of Legends
by Anjirika
Summary: That was it. The world was saved. All that was left was a white wall. Rose stared at it, realizing with a sudden rush of finality that it was over. She would never see her Mum, or Dad or Mickey ever again. The doors between the universes were closed and would never be reopened. So begins the alternate journeys of the Doctor and Rose. Together forever, the Stuff of Legends. R&R!
1. Doomsday

_A/N: So… this isn't a new idea, not in a long shot… but I just love Rose so much, and I want to explore how the timeline would have changed had she stuck around at the end of Doomsday. So this is it, an AU retelling of season three through to… well to whenever I get sick of this story. The chapters won't be terribly long mind you, with over ninety possible chapters, I don't want to spend my entire writing life on this story. I do hope you enjoy it tho, and leave a review if you have the time. Thanks! _

**The Stuff of Legends**

**1. Doomsday **

_She was the Bad Wolf. She created herself. She took the words and scattered them throughout time and space, a message to lead her mortal form to Satellite Five, to save her Doctor. She needed to protect him from the false god. She could see all of time and space, every moment that was, is and will be. She saw what was to come for her mortal form. She saw how far in the future, the Doctor's world would be up turned. He would be reunited which that was once was lost. Coming backwards towards the present, she could see companions, different from the form that she was in now. She could see how this form would leave the Doctor. A battle on Earth. Two enemies converging, and the child would almost be lost in the void, only to be separated in a different universe and- _

_"NO!" Rose Tyler's voice rang throughout the mind of the Bad Wolf  
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_-No what?- she asked herself _

_"I will not leave him. I can never leave him." _

_-It is written. It is decided.-_

_"So un-decide it," Rose demanded. "I won't leave him." _

_-He will change. It is in his nature. You may not want him in his new form.- the Bad Wolf warned. _

_"I don't care," Rose cried. "I won't leave him. Not now. Not ever." _

_-What would you have me do?- the Bad Wolf asked, curious at the strength of her mortal form. _

_"Change the future. You can do so much. You've just brought Jack back to life. So change the future. Make me stay with him." _

_-Are you sure this is what you want?- _

_"Yes," Rose assured. "More than anything." _

_-Very well,- the Bad Wolf conceded to the heart of the girl. -You will stay with him-_

_"Come here," a voice was saying. "I think you need a Doctor..." _

_._

That was it. The world was saved. All that was left was a white wall. Rose stared at it, realizing with a sudden rush of finality that it was over. She would never see her Mum, or Dad or Mickey ever again. The doors between the universes were closed and would never be reopened. She was about to comment on the fact that she couldn't believe that they had actually won, that she had held on, when suddenly the Doctor's arms were around her.

"Doctor?" she asked as he hugged her tight.

"I thought that was it."

"What was it?" Rose asked as she looked up at him.

"I thought that I had lost you."

"Lost me?"

"To the void," the Doctor replied. His big brown eyes full of worry. "There was a moment…"

"Yeah," Rose said, taking a step back, an image of her falling through to the void flashing across her mind. It hadn't happened, and yet, a part her believed that it did. It was a ghostly image, one that frightened her. "Scared me too."

The Doctor scowled. "That was exactly why I didn't want you here in the first place."

Rose felt her heart constrict at the thought of her Doctor not wanting her, but then she remembered that he had tried to send her away before, and all her anger from that rejection came pouring out— in the form of a punch on the arm.

"Ow," the Doctor complained as he rubbed his arm. "What was that for?"

"For abandoning me. For getting rid of me."

"It was for your own good."

Rose shook her head. "No. You don't get to make that decision."

"I'm the Doctor,"

"And I'm me," she cut in. "I'm my own person and I am capable of making my own decisions."

"Not when those decisions could get you killed."

Rose crossed her arms in front of her. "And just what do you think we've been doing for the past two years eh? Walking through the park."

"Well…"

"There is danger at every turn Doctor and I promised that I would be by your side through all of it…" she paused and softened her voice. "Forever."

The Doctor shook his head. "But you could have died."

"I didn't though," she assured him, taking his hand for comfort. "I'm still here."

"But for how long?"

"Forever." Rose squeezed his hand. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and it wasn't from almost being lost in the void. She knew that there was no better time to tell the Doctor how she felt. She was almost certain that he felt the same way, but if she was going to travel with him, after losing her family to another universe, she was going to lay all her cards on the table. "I love you."

The Doctor looked at her sharply and for one brief moment, Rose was worried that she had misread him, that he didn't love her. After all, he had had loads of companions before she came along. Who was she to a Time Lord? But then, just as she was about to pull away, the Doctor brought his lips to hers, and kissed her. Rose wasn't sure whether or not he was still in shock from the close scare that they had just experienced but she didn't care. All she knew was that for the moment, for one blessed moment, he was reciprocating her feelings.

When they finally pulled apart, she was breathless. "Well…" was all she could think of to say.

The Doctor blushed. "Sorry."

"No!" she said startled. "Never be sorry."

"I just… I've just wanted to do that for a while now."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "You have?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah."

"Then why haven't you?" Rose asked. "You know what? Never mind. I don't need to know. I just…" she paused, questioning what the kiss meant. "Do you…?"

"Love you?" he asked, the words coming out as a whisper. "Yeah. I do."

"Really?" Rose could hardly believe her ears.

"Rose Tyler… I love you."

Rose laughed, and tears came to her eyes. She threw her arms around his neck.

The Doctor hugged her back. "Come on… we should get going. This place will be crawling with the authorities soon and I don't feel like answering any questions."

"No," Rose agreed as she pulled away. "I don't either."

.

It was days later; the TARDIS was parked around a star. Rose wasn't sure why they hadn't travelled onto their next adventure, but she really didn't care. She was glad of the break. The joy that she felt at knowing that the Doctor loved her was dulled by the ache of her Mum— she missed Jackie Tyler so much and she mourned the loss of the second life that she could have had with her father in the parallel world. She also thought of her dear Mickey… he had been so brave, so different. She was so proud of him. More than anything she just wanted to say goodbye.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked as he knocked on her bedroom door. "I have a surprise for you."

"What is it?"

The Doctor led her to the console room, and then, right before her eyes, she found her vision changing. She wasn't in the TARDIS anymore, she was on a beach, and her Mum was standing before her.

"Mum?" she asked.

"Rose!" Jackie cried. "Where are you?"

"Inside the TARDIS. With the Doctor."

"You're both fine then?" Jackie asked. "I wasn't sure."

"We're fine Mum," Rose promised, the tears coming to her eyes. "I swear."

"How are you doing this?" Jackie asked. "I was dreaming of you, and then all of a sudden that Doctor told me to come here."

"Ah yes," the Doctor stepped beside Rose so that he too could see Jackie. "This is my doing. I knew that Rose wanted to say goodbye. There's just one tiny little gap in the Universe left, just about to close, and it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a super nova. I'm burning up a sun just so she can say goodbye."

"You look like a ghost," Jackie said. "I hate ghosts."

"Oh hold on," the Doctor soniced the console and knew that their image would solidify.

"Can I hug you Rose?"

Rose looked to the Doctor who shook his head. "No I guess not."

"And can you come through properly?"

"The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse."

"So?" asked Jackie.

"So that would be bad Mum…" she paused and gazed at the beach. "Where are we? Where did the gap come out?"

"We're in Norway," Jackie said.

"Norway. Right." The Doctor looked impressed.

"About fifty miles out of Burgen. It's called 'Dårlig Ulv Stranden'" Jackie added.

"Dalek?" Rose asked in horror.

"Dårlig. It's Norwegian for bad. This translates as Bad Wolf Bay." Jackie told them.

"Bad Wolf…" Rose whispered.

"How can she still be following us?" the Doctor asked.

Rose didn't answer. She felt as though she should be the one standing on Bad Wolf Bay. She felt as though time had been changed, changed in a way that would have lasting repercussions, but as soon as Rose had the thought, it vanished.

"How long have we got?" Jackie asked.

"About two minutes," the Doctor answered.

"No!" Jackie exclaimed. "It's not enough time."

Rose choked back with a sob, that's when she noticed a group of people standing in the distance. "Is that Mickey?"

"Yes," Jackie said. "And your Dad. There's four of us."

Rose was confused. "Four?"

"I'm three months gone. Another Tyler on the way."

"Oh Mum, that's fantastic." She forced a smile on her face. "Congrats."

"I wanted you to be here."

"Mum I made my choice," Rose apologized. "I'm sorry but I did."

"I know, and I knew that at one point I'd have to let you go…" Jackie pointed a finger at the Doctor. "You just keep her safe."

"On my honour Jackie Tyler. Nothing will happen to your Rose."

"Well she's your Rose now," Jackie mused.

"Rose," the Doctor warned. "Thirty seconds."

"Oh Mum!" Rose reached out, and Jackie did the same. Their fingers didn't touch, even though they wanted them too.

"I love you sweetheart."

"I love you too Mum!"

And then the image of her mother vanished. Rose found herself back in the TARDIS, with the Doctor by her side. He hugged her, so sorry that he had brought her such pain. He just wanted to ease her suffering, when all of a sudden they heard a mutter.

They both looked to the doors and saw a red-haired woman, in white standing there.

"What?" asked the Doctor.

The woman turned around, her eyes widened. "Oh!"

"What?!" the Doctor asked again.

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

"That can't be possible," Rose stated. "Can it?"

"Where am I eh?" the woman asked again.

"What!?" it seemed to be the only word that the Doctor could say.

"What the hell is this place?" the woman stated, looking more annoyed.

"What!?"

_A/N2: I am an idiot. I posted this story, but put in a different chapter. Now I've got it right, and to compensate, I've added the Prologue that I initially took out. Hope you enjoyed! Leave a review if you can! _


	2. The Runaway Bride

**2. The Runaway Bride **

The Doctor was going crazy. Crazier then Rose had ever seen him go. He and the woman, Donna, were bantering back and forth and for some reason, Rose found it to be hilarious and hilarious was exactly what she needed right now. She was only jolted back to reality when Donna grabbed her blouse that was hanging over the railing.

"I knew it!" she shrieked. "Acting all innocent. I'm not the first, am I? How many women have you abducted?"

"Oi!" Rose interjected. "He doesn't abduct anyone."

"Are you here against your will?" Donna asked as she strode over to Rose. "Say pineapple if you're afraid."

"If you must know she's here against my better judgement," the Doctor said exasperatedly. "Jumped dimensions just be with me, gave up her entire family too. I'm not just going to turf her out am I?"

Donna scowled. "Well you can turf me out and all."

"Right," the Doctor flung a lever on the console. "Chiswick."

The Doctor tried to get them to St. Mary's church. Rose knew that he really tried, but something was throwing of the TARDIS navigation system. Rose watched as the Doctor pulled out some money from an ATM machine and when he was going to give it to Donna, she jumped into a taxi, hopefully one that wouldn't toss her out. But then he went all clever and realized that she was kidnapped by a robot Santa. With some expert piloting, he managed to save Donna, but had to let the Tardis rest on-top of a roof.

"The funny thing is, for a spaceship, she doesn't really do that much flying. We'd better give her a couple of hours. You alright?"

Donna sighed. "Doesn't matter."

"Guess we missed it," Rose said as she sat down beside the bride.

"Yeah,"

"Well you can book another date," the Doctor suggested.

"Course we can," Donna agreed.

"And you've still got the honeymoon," Rose added, trying to be helpful.

"Just a holiday now."

The Doctor winced. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Not your fault," Donna sighed.

"Oh?" he asked. "That's a change."

"Wish you had a time machine," Donna mused. "Then we could go back and get it right."

"Yeah," the Doctor said, eyeing Rose and giving her the 'do not speak' look with his eyes. Rose got the message loud and clear and tried to keep her giggle contained. "But even if I did, I couldn't go back on someone's personal timeline. Apparently."

Donna shivered and the Doctor took of his jacket and put it around her shoulders. Rose had to squash the flare of jealousy. She was cold too, she would have loved to have the jacket to keep her warm, and when he brought out a gold wedding ring, she felt her heart lurch even further.

"With this ring, I thee bio-damp," the Doctor said, popping the 'p'.

Rose felt her jealousy abate a little, of course it would be something to keep the woman safe.

"For better for worse," Donna said. "So come on now, Robot Santas. What are they for?"

The Doctor and Donna talked for a bit and Rose fell silent. She was going to say something when the Doctor started going on about how Donna wasn't special, but Donna could clearly take care of herself. Rose just listened as Donna told the story of how she and her husband to be had gotten engaged and then when the subject of the reception came up, the Doctor offered to take Donna there. The minute they walked into the building Rose knew that there was going to be a problem, and he was right.

"You had the reception without me?" Donna asked.

"Donna!" a man, Rose assumed that it was the husband to be, came running over. "What happened to you?"

"You had the reception, without me?" Donna repeated.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," the Doctor introduced. "And this is Rose."

Rose gave a little half-hearted wave. "Hello."

"They had the reception, without me." Donna stated for the third time.

"Yes," Rose said softly. "We can see that."

"Well it was all paid for. Why not?" asked a voice from the back.

"Thank you, Nerys," Donna snapped.

"Well what were we supposed to do?" asked a woman, whom Rose figured was Donna's mother. "I got your silly little message in the end. I'm on Earth? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it? I mean, what's the trick, because I'd love to know.

Everyone began to talk at once and were only silenced when Donna burst into tears. Rose was surprised that the brash woman had fallen to pieces so quickly, but as Lance pulled her away from the crowd, she saw Donna wink at them.

The party got back into full swing after that. The music lulled everyone onto the dance floor, including Rose and the Doctor.

"So are all human weddings so eventful?" he asked as he spun her around on the floor.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"Well, Donna gets sucked into my Tardis, don't know how that happened, and then there was the incident with your parents friends…" the Doctor stopped himself and Rose could see the trepidation in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No," Rose said, wondering whether or not she should chastise him for bringing up what she had lost. But she decided against it, just by being in his arms and knowing that his two hearts loved her was enough for her. "Not all weddings are so eventful. Normally they're quite boring."

"If they're so boring, why does every human girl dream of her big day?"

Rose shrugged. "I don't know."

"Have you…" the Doctor paused. "Were you like everyone else?"

"What?" asked Rose. "Did I daydream about my own wedding?"

The Doctor nodded.

Rose leaned into his chest. "Sure," she whispered. "Sometimes."

"Tell me about it."

Rose smiled. "I always envisioned my wedding to be in winter, with ice crystals shining a thousand rainbows around me and my groom."

"Sounds utterly fantastic."

"Yeah," Rose agreed, liking when he said the word fantastic. "I imagine it would have been."

The Doctor held her at arms length. "Would have been? You won't—"

"Well I—" Rose stumbled over her words, suddenly realizing where their conversation was going. "—I mean… I'm not exactly living the normal human life now am I?" she asked, trying to avoid the topic of her and the Doctor's prospects of getting married. "Who knows how things are done out in the universe."

"You mean how things were done on Gallifrey," the Doctor said.

Rose shook her head. "I didn't say that. I'm not saying that."

"Then what are you saying?" he asked quietly. "You do still love me? You haven't changed your mind."

"No of course not," Rose assured, reaching up and kissing him. It was only their second kiss, and she still felt all fluttery when her lips touched his. "I just… I don't want to rush things. You know?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. Nine-hundred plus years of watching you humans and I still haven't figured out the way you think…" he brought Rose back into his warm embrace. "But I can understand why going slow is sometimes the best option."

Rose smiled into his arms. "I love you…" she whispered.

"I love you too," he answered.

Rose was beginning to think that they could have a nice and relaxing moment, but then killer Christmas Trees attacked and before long, they found themselves in the tunnels below the Thames, facing the empress of the Racnoss.

"Kill this chattering little doctor man," the Empress commanded.

"No!" Rose cried.

"Don't you hurt him!" Donna exclaimed.

"No, no!" the Doctor assured. "It's alright."

"You can't die on me," Rose whimpered.

"At arms!" the Empress ordered.

"Ahem," the Doctor began. "I just want to point out the obvious."

"They won't hit the bride or the blonde," the Empress assured. "They're such very good shots."

"Just, just, just, just, just hold on. Hold on just a tick. Just a tiny little, just a little tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So reverse it, and the spaceship comes to her."

Suddenly, the TARDIS was all around them and the Doctor was at the controls.

"Off we go!" he cried. Rose stayed glued to his side as he scuttled around, too lost in the excitement to notice her distress. "Oh do you know what I said before about time machines? Well, I lied. And now we're going to use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet's core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene. I've always wanted to see this. Donna, Rose," he took her hand. "We're going further back than I've ever been before."

The TARDIS shuddered.

"We've arrived. Want to see?"

"Yes," Rose said, the excitement beginning to catch up to her as well.

"I suppose."

"Oh, that scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best, Donna." The Doctor went for the door. "Come on Donna, no human's ever seen this. You'll be the first, well," he paused and looked at Rose who was right there beside him. "Second."

Donna came over but she clearly didn't want to. "All I want to see is my bed."

The Doctor flung open the TARDIS doors and Rose was awash with a sense of déjà vu. It was just like what she had seen when the Earth had been incinerated by the sun in the year five billion. Lots of floating space rock, nothing that looked familiar, everything had an alien tinge to it and yet when she looked at the sun, it was still her sun. And then, they realized what the Empress had been talking about. Her people had become the centre of the Earth.

The Doctor was just beginning to figure out what they were up against and why when they were pulled back into the fray. Rose watched at the Doctor warned the Empress, and when she refused to back down, he let loose the water.

"No! No!" the Empress cried. "My children! No! My children! My children!"

"Come on!" the Doctor cried as he took Rose and Donna by the hand. "Let's go."

And so they left the tunnels and the Empress. They made it back to the TARDIS and the Doctor ensured that Donna made it safely to her front door.

"There you go," he said. "Told you she'd be all right. She can survive anything."

"More than I've done," Donna said.

The Doctor scanned her. "No, all the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."

Donna shook her head. "Yeah, but apart from that, I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of."

The Doctor grimaced. "Couldn't save him."

"He deserved it," Donna said in one breath but then she changed her mind. "No, he didn't. I better get inside. They'll be worried."

"Best Christmas they could have."

"Oh," Rose remarked. "You hate Christmas."

"Yes," Donna said. "I do."

"Even if it snows?" the Doctor asked. The pointed his sonic at the TARDIS. A yellow light burst out from the lamp on top and there was an instant snow shower.

"I can't believe you did that!" Donna exclaimed.

"It's wonderful," Rose mused.

"Merry Christmas," the Doctor said to the both of them.

"Christmas," Rose said as she took his hand, the one that had been cut of above London three hundred and sixty-five earth days before. "That means it's been a year of us travelling together like this."

"Yes," the Doctor agreed. "To many more?"

"Many more," Rose agreed.

"Ugh," Donna rolled her eyes.

"So," the Doctor began, suddenly blushing. "What will you do with yourself now?"

"Not getting married, for starters. And I'm not going to temp anymore. I don't know. Travel. See a bit more of planet Earth. Walk in the dust. Just go out there and do something."

"Well…" he paused and looked at Rose who nodded. She quite liked Donna and fully agreed with what the Doctor was suggesting. "You could always come with us."

"And be the third wheel?" Donna asked. "No."

"But you've seen what our life is like," Rose pointed out. "You want to travel."

"Yes but your kind of travelling is terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying, and you were stood there like, I don't know, a stranger. And then you made it snow. I mean, you scare me to death. "

The Doctor nodded. "Right."

"And me?" Rose asked. "I'm not all that bad."

"No," Donna agreed with a smile. "I like you. But not enough to go travelling in that box of his..." she paused. "Tell you what I will do though. Christmas dinner…"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't think so."

"What's the harm?" asked Rose, thinking back to the Christmas Dinners with her Mum, and all the ones that she wouldn't have. "It would be really nice."

"You both should come," Donna insisted. "Mum always cooks enough for twenty."

"Oh all right then," the Doctor conceded. "Let's go. But you better warn them that we're coming. Don't say that I'm a Martian."

Donna smiled. "Alright then."

Donna walked towards her parents. The Doctor and Rose followed behind, hand in hand, ready to face whatever the universe would throw at them.

_A/N- And there you have it. Part two of a ninety part story (man it is so much more daunting when I type it like that). I hope you guys enjoyed it! Leave me a review if you have the time!_


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